Node.js Version Support Policy

The OpenAI Node.js SDK supports every Node.js major release in Active LTS or Maintenance LTS. The oldest supported release is declared by package.json#engines, documented in the README, and tested in required CI.

New Node.js majors enter the supported matrix within 30 days after official LTS promotion. Current and Alpha releases are forward-compatibility targets, not production support promises. This policy follows lifecycle state rather than even or odd version numbers because every annual Node.js release beginning with Node.js 27 is planned to become LTS.

OpenAI publishes a retirement notice at least six months before removing a supported Node.js line. The notice belongs in the README or support matrix, release notes, and a pinned GitHub issue. Social-media announcements are not required. Support ends at upstream EOL by default.

The SDK and Security teams may approve up to six months of post-EOL grace when migration risk justifies it. The exception must be recorded below with its owner, reason, and end date. It provides only feasible SDK fixes and migration help; OpenAI cannot provide missing upstream runtime security fixes, and the exception may end early.

Release and packaging rules

• Raising engines.node, emitted JavaScript syntax, or required runtime APIs ships in an SDK major release by default. An urgent minor-release exception requires SDK and Security approval. Never hide a runtime-floor change in a patch.
• Adding a newly promoted LTS without raising the minimum is an SDK minor.
• engines.node states the technical floor. The README support matrix is authoritative for lifecycle status because npm engine ranges cannot express only the currently supported LTS lines.
• Repository tooling may use a newer Node.js version than SDK consumers.
• Node.js lifecycle changes do not silently redefine TypeScript, Deno, Bun, browser, Workers, edge-runtime, Jest, or Nitro support.
• Required CI runs the SDK test suite on every supported Node.js line.
• Required CI builds and installs the packed npm artifact on supported lines, exercising CommonJS, ESM, and published engine metadata.

Current compatibility

Node.js line	Upstream status on 2026-07-27	OpenAI status	Treatment
20	EOL since 2026-04-30	Unsupported	Remove from required CI. Previously published SDK releases remain available without guaranteed fixes or security backports.
22	Maintenance LTS through 2027-04-30	Supported minimum	Blocking CI. Publish retirement notice by 2026-10-30.
24	Active LTS; EOL 2028-04-30	Supported and recommended	Blocking CI and preferred repository toolchain.
26	Current; LTS planned 2026-10-28	Forward-tested only	Non-blocking CI on the latest patch; admit within 30 days after LTS promotion.

The next SDK major requires Node.js 22 or later. The final Node.js 20-compatible SDK release is the last release published before that major; the exact version must be named in its release notes.

Automation

This document is the sole lifecycle and release policy. The README, package.json#engines.node, and .nvmrc are projections of it. Required CI derives its runtime matrix directly from the compatibility table. The type-checked scripts/check-node-version-policy.ts fails when those projections drift and emits the matrix consumed by CI.

Each month, .github/workflows/node-version-review.yml asks Codex to research the official Node.js schedule, reconcile the policy artifacts, run repository validation, and open or update one draft pull request. Generated changes never merge automatically.

For upstream dates and lifecycle definitions, see the Node.js release schedule and Node.js release policy.